rosends
Well-Known Member
Yesterday we read the section of the Torah called Chukat (Num 19 and forward). It is a weird parasha and I threw together some questions just for the heck of it.
Some of these formed in my still sleepy brain (I got an early minyan) and others were formulated after looking at the comments in the Artscroll/Schottenstein edition. I haven't sat with a text and all the commentaries and gone through them so if someone suggests an answer, pass it along.
1. If there are other laws which qualify as chukim (decrees without logical explanation) then why is the red heifer the one chosen to be the quintessential example? (the parasha begins with an declaration "this is the chok of the Torah")
2. People died through the time in the desert (I think) and died during the years of the temple's existence. Did it happen that more than just a small group was impure on Pesach (hence the rule of Pesach sheini)? How often did the red heifer treatment have to be administered? Every doctor (let alone a mortician) runs the risk of being in a building with a dead body -- wouldn't a huge number of people need the ashes constantly?
3. Did those people carrying Yosef's bones actually touch his corpse? They were outside and not under trees -- why were they impure?
4. If (as the notes indicate) Miriam died on the 10th of Nisan in the 40th year, did the people have water to make matzah with? Who took care of her body (and was therefore impure on Pesach)? Why did she die specifically then? If, according to the midrash, people died each year on Tisha B'Av, then why didn't she die then?
5. If Miriam's presence guaranteed the presence of water, either by a spring or a rock (https://www.chabad.org/library/arti...wish/Miriams-Well-Unravelling-the-Mystery.htm) and there was a process for getting water out, then why did Moshe have such a hard time figuring out which rock was the "right" one (as per the notes in the Artscroll on 20:11)?
6. Aharon dies in about 20:23. Why at this point? (same timing question as Miriam) Was it a punishment? Why could he not have lived until right before the people entered the new land, like Moshe did?
7. What is up with the weird singular in 21:2? Sometimes the singular referring to the entire nation is a compliment regarding the unified nature but they could not ALL have made the oath (women, children, slaves, priests and the elderly weren't going to fight so why would they make an oath about how to use the spoils? The text goes right back to plural (and rebellion) really quickly. How unified could they be? In other battles, even a few verses later, the people are in the plural. Is that an implicit criticism?
8. The people sing a song of water and don't mention Miriam but they do mention digging. Even if I accept that they took Miriam for granted and understand that they didn't learn their lesson from their recent punishment, why mention digging when they didn't have to dig for water?
I welcome any ideas (that fall in line with an Orthodox view of the nature of the text).
Some of these formed in my still sleepy brain (I got an early minyan) and others were formulated after looking at the comments in the Artscroll/Schottenstein edition. I haven't sat with a text and all the commentaries and gone through them so if someone suggests an answer, pass it along.
1. If there are other laws which qualify as chukim (decrees without logical explanation) then why is the red heifer the one chosen to be the quintessential example? (the parasha begins with an declaration "this is the chok of the Torah")
2. People died through the time in the desert (I think) and died during the years of the temple's existence. Did it happen that more than just a small group was impure on Pesach (hence the rule of Pesach sheini)? How often did the red heifer treatment have to be administered? Every doctor (let alone a mortician) runs the risk of being in a building with a dead body -- wouldn't a huge number of people need the ashes constantly?
3. Did those people carrying Yosef's bones actually touch his corpse? They were outside and not under trees -- why were they impure?
4. If (as the notes indicate) Miriam died on the 10th of Nisan in the 40th year, did the people have water to make matzah with? Who took care of her body (and was therefore impure on Pesach)? Why did she die specifically then? If, according to the midrash, people died each year on Tisha B'Av, then why didn't she die then?
5. If Miriam's presence guaranteed the presence of water, either by a spring or a rock (https://www.chabad.org/library/arti...wish/Miriams-Well-Unravelling-the-Mystery.htm) and there was a process for getting water out, then why did Moshe have such a hard time figuring out which rock was the "right" one (as per the notes in the Artscroll on 20:11)?
6. Aharon dies in about 20:23. Why at this point? (same timing question as Miriam) Was it a punishment? Why could he not have lived until right before the people entered the new land, like Moshe did?
7. What is up with the weird singular in 21:2? Sometimes the singular referring to the entire nation is a compliment regarding the unified nature but they could not ALL have made the oath (women, children, slaves, priests and the elderly weren't going to fight so why would they make an oath about how to use the spoils? The text goes right back to plural (and rebellion) really quickly. How unified could they be? In other battles, even a few verses later, the people are in the plural. Is that an implicit criticism?
8. The people sing a song of water and don't mention Miriam but they do mention digging. Even if I accept that they took Miriam for granted and understand that they didn't learn their lesson from their recent punishment, why mention digging when they didn't have to dig for water?
I welcome any ideas (that fall in line with an Orthodox view of the nature of the text).